The Rough, Violet Stone Life is too short for accord.Bestow to me, please,the heretic’s hectic direction,the rapt and the agitatedcompulsions of the outcast.For if he walks long enough alonethe pariah’s heart will ever ignite to fervid purposelike fire discovered by an exiled progenitor. Grant to me the ardent discernment of the lost— the faith that […]
Leah Miller – Smokers
Smokers 1. Tie, mango, train – three words with no apparent connection. The nurse tells me to remember them for later. I want to do well. These people have caused me a lot of trouble—four CAT scans, two biopsies, and a confirmation from the Mayo Clinic: I don’t have lung cancer. But what about dementia, […]
Kenneth Pobo – Two Poems
Dulcet’s Still Life We talk on his porch about cars backfiring, organ music, and kidney stones. Fresh lemonade sweats in glasses he inherited from his grandmother. A bowl of peaches teases Cezanne out of the grave. Dulcet Tones And Proof In Geometry class, shapes keep numbers in their pockets. I didn’t know how easily numbers […]
Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon – Summer in the Sixties: Slow Roads
Summer in the Sixties: Slow Roads Cooped upin our green Morris Minor.Eight long, sticky hours,Leicester to Merthyrfor our summer holidays. Mum baits Dad.Their tight voiceswhisper cross words.Gwyn grabs my book.It’s not fair.I hate boys,brothers worst of all. Stuck in a traffic jam,I need a wee.I wriggle and sweatour car crawls on. At long last, a […]
Carol Louise Moon – Death of a Pine
Death of a Pine The pine—at one moment seen asan inexhaustible life force—wasin the next moment seen sheddingits needles, bark and any senseof evergreen health. It had seemed to be a tower ofstrength against an ever-increasingdrought in a land which—in bettertimes—had seen heavy rains withabundant wild flowers and water grass. The pine, now rotted within, […]
Simon Perchik – You reach for December, rip the page off
You reach for December, rip the page offletting it lay crumpled on the wooden floorside by side the days, hours, minutes still shaking from the final week you triedto bring them back to life as tears̶ this calendar can no longer hide your grief gives way from under the great weightthat turns snow to stone […]
Vincent O’Connor – Maybe There’s a Way to Live Forever
Maybe There’s a Way to Live Forever according to some physicistsinfinite versions of me roamacross infinite universes bundles of subatomic particlesfull of probabilityand uncertainty and all possiblefuturesare real and each time I choosebetween burritos and kaleboth options play out because Goddoes, indeed,play dice with the universe and when I’m reposingin a sepulcherin full decay infinite […]
Ken Allan Dronsfield – Arbor of Wisteria and Clematis
Arbor of Wisteria and Clematis I reflect upon lavender Wisteria;lilacs and lonely white gardenias.I uncover a grand butterfly bush;Quoth the Nepeta, ‘keep to the path’.Those shrubby pussy willows bloom,burning felt deep within the Clematis.What could be more purely aglow?Pumpkins sit by bundled corn husks.Only this and a Thimble-berry pie.A perched crow is upon the arborcraving […]
Coming in 2021: Speaking Cat!
That’s right, we’re entering the world of podcasting! Speaking Cat is the Peeking Cat Literary podcast coming in early 2021. We’ll be talking about writing poetry and creative nonfiction; writing the self; and writing and wellbeing, including writing about trauma and cancer survivorship. We’ll also be chatting with guest authors! Of course, chatting with guest […]
Guy Biederman – Poem Repairs
Poem Repairs The scaffolding around the house never comes down. Permanent fixture. Part of the furniture. Apparently there’s no end to repairs. Last year’s leak over the stairs moved to the ceiling above the dining room, leaving decco-goth stripes running down the walls. Shingles above the front door were no sooner replaced when the awning […]